The player known as “Big Oak” is starting to swing the lumber.

That could be bad news for the Minnesota Twins as they face the Toronto Blue Jays and their hard-hitting third baseman, Kazuma Okamoto, on Saturday afternoon in Minneapolis.

Okamoto is coming off the first two-homer game of his brief career Friday night. He finished with three RBIs to help the Blue Jays pull away for a 7-3 win over the Twins in the second contest of a four-game series.

The performance gave Okamoto seven home runs in 31 games to start the season, tops on the team. The 29-year-old signed with Toronto during the offseason after playing professionally in Japan.

The Blue Jays hope to benefit from Okamoto’s power surge as they look to put an up-and-down April behind them. Toronto started the season 7-13 but has gone 8-4 since then.

A win on Saturday would guarantee Toronto at least a tie in the series against the Twins. Toronto won its previous three series before heading to Minneapolis.

The Twins hope to obstruct Toronto’s turnaround. Minnesota won the series opener 7-1 Thursday before falling short Friday.

Since April 15, the Twins are 3-12. They have lost four consecutive series and need back-to-back victories this weekend to secure their first series win in two-plus weeks.

Twins manager Derek Shelton will need a bounce-back performance from his hitters on Saturday. Byron Buxton is hot with four home runs in his past five games, but the rest of the lineup did not generate much offense in Friday’s loss. The team stranded nine runners.

“(Blue Jays left-hander Patrick) Corbin just kind of kept us off balance,” Shelton said. “He mixed and matched. He used his fastball both in and out, but he was able to use the changeup to keep us off balance.”

On Saturday, the Blue Jays will turn to right-hander Dylan Cease (1-1, 2.87 ERA). He is coming off his first loss of the season after giving up four runs on seven hits in 5 2/3 innings against the Boston Red Sox on Monday. Toronto fell 5-0.

Cease has made 13 career starts against the Twins, going 4-5 with a 4.69 ERA. He has walked 33 and struck out 79 in 71 innings.

The Twins will counter with left-hander Connor Prielipp (1-0, 4.00), who will take the mound for the first time since earning his first career big-league victory. He pitched in front of family and friends and held the Seattle Mariners to two runs on one hit in five innings in an 11-4 win on Monday.

This will be Prielipp’s first career start against the Blue Jays.

Okamoto is not the only player heating up for Toronto. Rookie outfielder Yohendrick Pinango will look to stay hot after going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs on Friday night.

Blue Jays manager John Schneider said Pinango has impressed him. The rookie has appeared in five games, batting .500 (5-for-10).

“We’re going to give him a bit of runway while he’s here,” Schneider said. “That’s the profile you want. Go ahead and swing it, and swing at a good pitch.”

–Field Level Media

In the offseason, the New York Yankees never sought Pete Alonso in free agency because they were confident in Ben Rice’s bat and development.

Through the first month of the season, Rice is among the best hitters in baseball, and the Yankees hope to see more productive at-bats from their first baseman when they host Alonso and the Baltimore Orioles on Saturday afternoon.

The Yankees are 11-2 in their past 13 games, and Rice’s production is in the middle of their surge. He hit a three-run homer in the second inning of Friday’s 7-2 win over Baltimore and has seven of his 11 homers this year in the past 14 games.

“I just think we’re continuing to see the evolution of one of the game’s really outstanding hitters, simple as that,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said about Rice, 27. “He’s really disciplined, and he’s got a good plan night in and night out for who he’s facing and what he wants to look for, and he does a good job of controlling the zone.

“So, this is kind of that trajectory he’s been on since he first debuted (2024). He’s just gotten better and better to the point of now he’s kind of been a wrecking ball.”

Rice is hitting .330 this season, and his latest big night was part of the Orioles surrendering 11 hits and six walks on Friday. Jose Caballero also homered, while Aaron Judge had an RBI single, scored twice and reached base four times.

Rice has a .317 average with eight homers and 18 RBIs in 16 career games against the Orioles, who are 6-10 in their past 16 games.

Alonso homered in his first at-bat at Yankee Stadium since joining the Orioles on a five-year, $155 million contract following seven seasons with the New York Mets. He drew a pair of walks and scored both runs as the Orioles were held to a season-low three hits on Friday.

The Orioles also were limited to three runs or less for the 13th time. Baltimore is 2-11 in those games.

“Obviously we want to go out there and score as many runs as possible,” Baltimore’s Blaze Alexander said. “We want to do better, and we’re going to do better.”

After the Yankees’ Will Warren struck out nine in 6 1/3 innings Friday, left-hander Ryan Weathers (1-2, 3.21 ERA) will take the mound on Saturday for his first career appearance against Baltimore. He allowed two runs on 11 hits in 12 2/3 innings in his two most recent games as the Yankees defeated the Kansas City Royals and Houston Astros.

Those starts followed his April 14 outing when he allowed four homers to the Los Angeles Angels. Weathers last pitched a week ago, when he took a no-decision in an 8-3 win against the Astros, allowing two runs on six hits in 5 1/3 innings.

Kyle Bradish (1-3, 4.20 ERA) is scheduled to start for Baltimore on Saturday. The right-hander is 1-1 with a 3.09 ERA in seven career starts against the Yankees. He has held them to a .241 batting average and has limited Judge to one hit in nine at-bats.

–Field Level Media

Arizona’s Ildemaro Vargas is the top hitter in baseball now that he has reached the qualifying threshold, but that might not mean the kidding will stop.

Vargas raised his batting average to a major-league-leading .404 with a four-hit game in the Diamondbacks’ 6-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs on Friday, extending his season-opening hitting streak to 24 games and his overall streak to 27.

As the streak built, D-Backs’ teammates jokingly told Vargas, “Hey, you haven’t done anything yet.”

Look at him now.

Vargas will look to extend both streaks when the D-backs send right-hander Ryne Nelson (1-2, 7.71 ERA) to oppose left-hander Shota Imanaga (2-2, 3.15) in the second game of a three-game series at Wrigley Field on Saturday afternoon.

Vargas’ 27-game hitting streak dating to last September is the longest active streak in the majors and three short of Luis Gonzalez’s team record set in 1999.

“I try not to think about it too much,” Vargas said through an interpreter. “The goal is to go through the day as routinely as I can, as if it isn’t happening. The priority is to help the team, and that takes pressure away from me.”

His streak is the longest in the majors since Trea Turner’s 27-gamer in 2021-22, and the longest season-opening streak since Ron LeFlore’s 30-gamer to open 1976.

“He’s a great piece for a manager to have,” Arizona manager Torey Lovullo said of Vargas. “He’s very versatile. He’s engaged. He’s shown a high baseball IQ. Right now he’s on a heater, and we’re going to enjoy that.”

The D-backs have scuffled recently despite Vargas’ contributions, having lost seven of their past 10 games. They have not had a starting pitcher throw seven innings since Michael Soroka went seven to beat Toronto 6-3 on April 17.

Zac Gallen gave up six runs and lasted only 3 2/3 innings in the loss Friday. A defensive misplay also cost the D-backs a run, and another scored on a wild pitch.

“We’ve got to be better,” said Lovullo, who spoke harshly to the group in the dugout early in the game. “We have to do things up to our standard. We should have probably given up three runs today, and we gave up six.”

The Cubs are streaking the other way. They have won nine straight at Wrigley Field and 13 of their last 16 overall.

Michael Busch had two hits and a two-run single to continue his upward trajectory after a slow start, and the bullpen limited Arizona to one hit after Geraldo Perdomo’s three-run homer brought the D-backs within 6-5 in the sixth.

“A very, very good day for Michael,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said.

Jacob Webb became the sixth Cub pitcher to record a save this season. He went two innings, struck out three and allowed a walk. He walked Vargas to open the ninth before getting two strikeouts and a weak grounder.

Imanaga gave up five runs in 5 1/3 innings in a 6-0 loss Sunday at the Los Angeles Dodgers in his last time out, halting a streak of three quality starts and four starts in which he gave up one run or less. The Cubs have been shut out in two of his starts.

Imanaga is 1-0 with a 1.29 ERA in two career starts against the D-backs, giving up only five hits in 14 innings. Ketel Marte is 0-for-6 against him, and Perdomo is 0-for-4.

Nelson gave up six runs, including two homers to Manny Machado, in five innings on Sunday in his last outing, a no-decision in which the D-backs rallied for a 12-7 victory over San Diego in the Mexico City Series.

Nelson is 2-0 with a 6.88 ERA in five appearances, three starts, against the Cubs. He was roughed in two relief appearances against them last season, giving up nine runs in 2 1/3 innings. Ian Happ is 3-for-7 with a homer against him.

–Field Level Media